His Conundrum: Olympus Rising
by LadyAkuma20
Summary: (ABANDONED! There will be NO more updates! See Author's Note after Ch 5) A year after the events of His Conundrum, Rodney and his new wife Kait are thrust headfirst in a new adventure with the rest of the Atlantis crew, & some guest stars from SG-1 and Universe. A new race of beings and new powers. A war is on the horizon... one that has been on hold now for thousands of years.
1. Home Sweet Home

*"Home sweet home!"

Kait took in a deep breath of air as she stepped out of the event horizon and back on the floors of Atlantis. Directly behind her was her ever-grumpy husband.

"Did we have to bring all of this back with us?" Rodney huffed, lugging two suitcases on wheels behind him. Kait raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms and dropping the large duffel bag to the floor.

"Dude… they're on wheels. You're not dying. I hoofed it with mine."

He glared and stretched. "It's heavier than it looks! And I have a bad back."

"You didn't have a bad back a few days ago on the kitchen counter…" she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, making him straighten and give her a look.

"Well… that's different."

She rolled her eyes and smiled as Elizabeth came down to meet them, John at her heels.

"Rodney, Kait, it's good to have you back!" she smiled, warmly hugging both. "We never got a chance to tell you how wonderful the ceremony was!"

Rodney wrapped his arm around Kait's waist and shrugged. "Well, thank you. I wasn't thrilled with the dessert selection, but it was great otherwise… who even thought of having lemon squares there anyhow?" he said, making a face. Kait chuckled.

"We're just glad to be back. General O'Neill said you had a mission starting, but you needed someone to go to the planet's surface."

Elizabeth nodded. "That's right, although SGC is a bit behind. Let's walk and talk, Zelenka can get you up to date on the science staff's findings from the last few days as well. Leave your things, someone will take them to your new quarters in a few minutes." She said, motioning Zelenka to come down as they began walking up the stairs, leaving their bags behind for now.

Zelenka warmly hugged Kait, then shook Rodney's hand. "Congratulations. I had not had a chance to tell you that before, you left for your honeymoon before I could stop you. How was Hawaii anyhow?"

"Ah, there's no place like home." Kait grinned. "I got a tan, so that was nice. Every time I tried to tan on this planet with any kind of oil, I got burned in minutes. It was horrible. It was nice being on Earth for a little while… it's the simple things."

John grinned and grabbed her hair, pulling it back to reveal round bruises on her neck. "No tan lines and bruises all over… why Mrs. McKay, I do believe those are hickeys. Did you two ever leave your hotel room?"

"What hotel room? We rented a private house." Rodney said, shooting a smug look at Sheppard before kissing Kait's head softly. "And to answer your question… no, we really didn't."

They entered the briefing room, and took their seats. "Ok, people. As glad as we are to have you two home, we'll ask how your trip was later on. Right now, we need to show you what we've found so far."

Zelenka stood, and handed them two tablet computers, as they began to flick through the information on there.

"Why aren't you explaining?" Sheppard glanced at Zelenka.

"Eh, it's a better idea if they read it for themselves." He shrugged.

After a few moments, Rodney sat up straight. "You discovered another race? Similar to the Asgards?"

Elizabeth nodded. "We believe so. We've yet to find an actual living being, but we're pretty sure we have found their civilization, or what was once their civilization."

Kait glanced above her tablet's top. "So… who's going?" she asked, peeking above the tablet.

"Well, whoever asks first, but-"

"DIBS!" Kait said, bounding up and grinning. Elizabeth chuckled, as Rodney glowered.

"Oh that's not fair… just because we're married doesn't mean you get to be sneaky like that…" he grumbled.

"Relax. I was thinking both of you could check it out." Elizabeth smiled. "It's just a scouting trip. Nothing should happen."

"Elizabeth, you said that about Sokra too. And about M67-O90. And the planet where we were all trapped in a cave for days… in fact you always say that." Rodney said, as he stood up.

"Okay, I get it. Well this time we pre-scouted it out, it is abandoned." Elizabeth shook her head, as they all left the room. "Go get ready. Meet up at the gate in about 30 minutes. I'm sure your gear from Atlantis is right where you left it." She said, as Kait nodded.

"As long as no one rearranged my drawers, we're kosher. Where's our new room?"

"Well, as you're the first couple to marry in the city and NEED a dual living space, you got the first of the apartment-type rooms in the third spire. It cleaned up nicely, if I do say so. You can take one of the transporters to get there. It's the only room that's active, so you'll find it easily. Third floor in the spire." Elizabeth said, as Rodney nodded.

"Alright. We'll be back in 30."

As he and Kait headed for the transporter, and entered as they arrived, Kait grinned. "Too bad this thing isn't an actual elevator. Coulda' had some fun."

He snorted and shook his head as the doors shut, then reopened in a whole new part of the city-ship, one that was previously used for storage. It had been cleaned out and was not actually rather nice. They headed to the only active access panel, and Rodney waved a hand in front of it. The doors slid open, and Kait grinned as she took in the room… if you could call it a room. It was more like a condo, to be honest. Large living space, a dining space, large bathroom, a large bedroom, and a spare room… you'd pay top dollar for a place like this back home.

"Remind me that I owe Elizabeth a huge favor…" Rodney said, heading into the bedroom, and going through the drawers to find his clothing. Kait followed, and opened the closet, finding their uniforms and black under shirts all neatly hung up.

"Found them." She said, grabbing a set of her clothes down and stripping her civilian gear. She looked up as she finished removing her t-shirt to see Rodney staring at her appreciatively. "Don't you need to get dressed too?" she asked, smirking.

"Eh, I do, but we have a few minutes…" he said, trailing his eyes down her bare legs and torso before trailing his hand down her arm.

She smiled. "Yeah, we do. But I know you… and you don't take a few minutes. Besides… anticipation can be a thrilling aphrodisiac." she smirked, pulling her undershirt on and walking off, stopping to pull on her pants and continuing to the spare room to find her gear.

He smirked back, and quickly changed his clothing as well, before following her to get his own gear. She had pulled his own pack out and packed his things in the few moments she had been in the room, so he pulled it on. "Thanks, I was just coming in here to do that."

"Eh, I was already here. No big deal." She said, as she hefted her own pack on. He helped her steady it as she snapped it to her waist. He turned her around and wrapped his arms around her waist, their foreheads touching.

"Are you happy to be back?" he asked her, "If you had wanted to stay… I'd have stayed." He said, as she grinned and nodded.

"Rodney McKay, you know I wouldn't trade my time on Atlantis for anything… well… almost anything." She said, leaning up and pulling his face down gently to kiss him, before pulling back and smiling. It reminded her of their reception, in the ballroom on Atlantis that they had managed to uncover in the fourth spire. They had put that and the auditorium area to good use that day… That whole spire seemed like it was made for orchestras, plays, and entertaining dignitaries, and it had been lovely.

It was one of the few times she had gotten him to dance with her. She had changed into her reception dress, white, hitting her knees, slightly fluffy, her shoulders bare. Someone had gotten a new song to play, pop-sounding and bouncy, and he had actually danced and jumped around with her to the song, smirking his ever present cocky smirk as she laughed.

What he hadn't told her was that seeing her smile was what was making him smirk… because he enjoyed watching her laugh. Every song change, he had loved watching her change her moves to match. It wasn't the only thing she was good at when it came to changing the moves mid-tempo.

And with every slow dance, his face had changed, he had pulled her to him, pressed his forehead to hers, and just smiled at her as they danced.

It had been a side of Rodney that he hadn't shared, because no one had ever bothered to learn he had that in him.

His sister had even come to the wedding and reception, as did his niece and brother in law. He had made sure that he brought as many people as he could to try and make up for her family not being able to come due to security reasons… so he had even asked Daniel Jackson and the rest of SG-1, knowing that they had a history.

And all in all, it had been a day that he'd never forget.

And now, his forehead against hers, he was brought back to that moment along with her, grinning lightly at her. "This is our home." He said, as she nodded.

"Yep. Home feels like a vacation now… this feels like home now. Being here, on Atlantis… with you… with the rest of our family… this is home." She said, as she looked up at the clock in the room and blinked.

"Oh crap. We need to go, now." She said, as she pointed out the time to him. He swore lightly and straightened his pack, as they headed out of the room and back to the transporter. They were quickly back to the gate room, heading to the gate right as they had begun to dial out.

"Well geeze, you could have waited." Rodney said, as Kait watched the sigils as they lit up on the gate. As the gate flared to life, they all stepped down. She absentmindedly took his hand as they stepped into the event horizon, and as usual, the pull felt like falling through a roller coaster as she stepped through to the other side.

She shivered as they arrived and stepped in snow. "Could have warned us that it was Antarctica here…" Kait said as Sheppard and Teyla looked confused. Ronon spoke up.

"It wasn't…"

Her face became confused as she pulled out her tablet and crinkled her forehead. "The last time you were here it was pretty… mild? Like, warmer than Frosty's snowballs at least?" she asked, as Rodney and Sheppard snorted.

"Yes, it was. In fact… look… the trees still have their leaves." Teyla said, pointing to the nearest trees, which did in fact have full plumage.

They headed into the ruins of the city, making their way into the epicenter, where they had made a discovery about some runes and strange stones.

"Ok, so who found these stones?" Rodney asked as they walked, the city itself being strangely warmer despite the snow.

"Ronon and I did. I did not remove any; I wanted to wait for you to maybe see what you could make of them…" Teyla said, as he nodded.

They found the stones in the center of the city, and all of them walked forward as Rodney and Kait began to get power readings. Teyla removed the top to the case, and a light flared into the room. 6 gemstones began to glow and emit power readings that were off the charts. They all stepped back, as Teyla raised her weapon slightly.

"They did NOT do this before!" she said, as Kait clicked away on her tablet.

"These power readings are incredible, but so unstable… you can feel the power they're letting off…" she murmured, as Rodney moved closer to the box. As he did, the gems began to tremble, making him stop in his tracks.

"Back off, Rodney, you're setting them off!" Sheppard said, as Rodney backed up. Kait blinked, then stepped forward, causing the gems to shake. She backed up.

"Sheppard… walk closer." She said, as he shot her a look, then he did as she asked. The gems shook again, and he backed up quickly.

"Ronon… you go. Try and get the lid on." Rodney said, finally understanding what was happening. Ronon stepped forward, waiting for the gems to shake, but they simply continued to glow. He quickly put the cover back on the case, and the power levels vanished.

"It's the ATA gene." Kait said quietly, as Sheppard looked at her.

"Come again?"

Rodney looked at him. "The gems, they reacted to those of us with the ATA gene, whether naturally like you and Kait, or artificially like mine. If Carson was here he would have set them off too." He said, as Kait nodded.

"Ok, so what does that mean?"

"Oh do I look like I know? We've been here for all of 30 minutes… and seen those crazy gems for all of 2 minutes. I have no idea why our ATA gene is setting them off." Rodney said, rolling his eyes and getting back to his keyboard. He went over the power readings, blinking. "I can tell you this… I've never read energy readings like this… not even from a ZedPM…" he said, as Kait blinked.

"Seriously? More powerful than a ZPM?" she asked, as he nodded.

"Oh WAY more powerful… by about 3 times the power output of a ZedPM more powerful." Rodney said, making her blink then move to his tablet to check his readings.

"Holy shit, I think you're right… damn!" she said, flabbergasted.

"Ok, well… I think we need to head back…" Sheppard said cautiously, making both Rodney and Kait blink and shake their heads.

"No way." Rodney said, as Kait nodded.

"This is the worst timing to pull us." Kait said, as she went over her data. "Leave us here or something, but if we can find the other source of power here…" she trailed off, as Rodney spoke up.

"We may be able to finally defeat the Wraith once and for all." Rodney said, as Sheppard sighed.

"Ok, so what do you want me to tell Elizabeth?"

Rodney shrugged. "Ask her to get as much info from the Asgardians about this race as she can… and tell her to put in a call to another Ancient tech specialist… his name is Nicholas Rush. He already works for the SG:C, you just need to get him to Atlantis." He said, as Sheppard nodded.

"Ok, well I'm leaving Teyla with you. I refuse to leave you two alone here." He said, as Kait nodded.

"That's fine, John, just go get us more info. Maybe you could convince Hermiod to come tell us something about these people." She said, as she smirked and began to walk off, Rodney right there with her, using their tablets to find the other source of power.

"Teyla… stay with those two." Sheppard said, as she nodded.

"Of course, John." Teyla said, before following Rodney and Kait. Sheppard motioned for Ronon to follow him, and they headed back for the gate.

 _ ****AUTHOR'S NOTE** WE ARE BACK! WELL, I'M BACK I SHOULD SAY. BACK TO THE ADVENTURES OF ATLANTIS AND SG-1, AND BRINGING IN A CHARACTER FROM UNIVERSE AS WELL BECAUSE HE'S THE ONLY SALVAGEABLE CHARACTER FROM UNIVERSE IN MY OPINION. PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU FEEL SO INCLINED TO DO SO! THIS IS GOING TO BE PART OF THE 'HIS CONUNDRUM' SERIES. :) ENJOY!****_


	2. Off-World Blues

"You need me for what, exactly?"

The scientist with a cigarette in his mouth and a heaping mug of coffee cocked his eyebrow at the man standing in front of him, a Colonel Jack O'Neill from the SGC. He knew the man by reputation only… he'd been working on solving a difficult equation relating to the Stargate, had seen him around the SGC a few times, and when he'd left there to work in a more private setting closer to home and simply send his results to Dr. Samantha Carter, he'd gotten permission from O'Neill to do so.

That said… Nicholas Rush had no idea why he was there now.

"We have a situation that we need an expert on… we have two there, but we could use your expertise…"

"Who's there now?" Rush asked, tapping his cigarette on the ashtray to get the ashes off the top.

"Rodney McKay and his wi-"

"You have McKay there and you need me to come too?" Rush asked incredulously, taking a gulp of his coffee.

"Nick…" Sam began to speak. "He could really use your help on this one."

"Then you go. That'd make him more happy than if I went anyhow. I'm almost onto something here … I've just about deciphered this gate address and unlocked a new destination further out than even Atlantis." He said, as Samantha shook her head.

"Nicholas, they've discovered a new race… it's so secretive to the Asgardians that they refuse to even speak to us about them. They close up and act very defensive. All we've been able to decipher is something about an ancient war… but any more info and they're more tight-lipped than Fort Knox." Sam said, making Rush lean forward in curiosity.

"Ok… you've piqued my curiosity…" he said, as O'Neill threw a file on the table in front of him.

Rush picked up the folder and glanced at it, before looking up to Samantha and Jack.

"The Olympians?"

"Yes, Kait… they called themselves the Olympians from what I can gather from these texts, although we knew that already from the briefing. To tell you the truth, this part is not my specialty, the mechanics however… I feel like a kid in a candy store… have I mentioned that this is pretty sweet lately?" Rodney jabbered on, as Kait rolled her eyes and rolled out from under a control panel.

"Yes, Rodney, you did. Multiple times." She said, as he went on.

"I mean, their mechanics are so close to the Asgardians, but you can see the variations in the circuitry. They wired everything differently… I mean even the Ancients would have had a tough time with these guys. It's insane. And the way they powered everything… those gems are more powerful but these Olympians used a source of power well beyond the Asgardians… I have no idea what the gems are for though." He said, as Kait nodded from under the control panel and finished re-wiring a few things.

"Ok, that should do it. Have you got the program typed yet? The math was… well I could do it but, you know." She said as he nodded.

"Yeah, I know, you're good but my math is better. You need more time than we have here. It's ok. You can say it." He said, shooting her a look as Teyla smirked and went back to what she was doing before.

"Say what?" Kait asked, a hand on her hip.

He was about to finish when he finished inputting the codes, the whole console flaring to life and the room glowing, text glowing all over the walls of the room.

Kait looked up at the writing around them, and blinked.

"It's Greek!"

"Yeah I'm having issues reading it too."

"No, you ding dong, look! The writing is in Greek. It's literally the Greek language from Earth!" she said, gesturing him to look up. As he looked around, he blinked and then swore lightly.

"Well, I'll be damned… it sure is!" he said, as she examined the text.

"We need to make a call."

"Oh don't even say it. It's bad enough I had to call Rush in, but if you tell me that I have to call in that stubborn, been-dead-more-times than a freaking zombie bookworm in here…"

"Rodney, either you call Sheppard or I will, but either way… we need Daniel here to translate this."

Rodney started to swear, but he grabbed his radio and began to make a call to Sheppard.

Half an hour later, the three were packed up and heading back to the gate, Kait and Rodney looking over their findings with enthusiasm.

"Kait, did you see this? The data we got from that console is amazing, once we can translate it we'll know more about these people than we do about the Asgardians."

She nodded and pulled up a file. "I'm more interested in this…" she held up a diagram of gemstones, in a list format.

"Oh yeah, definitely, I mean we could potentially power Atlantis for years with those gems." Rodney said, grinning broadly.

"Why, Doctor McKay, you're practically glowing." Kait grinned, making him roll his eyes and nudge her shoulder in amusement.

Their walk continued, as a rumble began to be heard overhead of them. The three looked up, and then gasped. A huge ship was above them, and a beam of purple light was scanning everything around them.

"I thought Elizabeth said this place was abandoned…" Rodney said to Teyla.

"It was…we've never had someone show up and we've been here twice…"

"Less talking, more moving guys…I don't want to be here when they find out we've been playing with their things." Kait said, as they began to make a run for the gate. Making their way through the ruins of the city, they ducked under an overhang just as a scanner went above them.

Kait pressed her body into the cold stone of the building behind her, trembling slightly.

"Make sure you tell Elizabeth you were right." She said to Rodney, as he grumbled.

"I knew it, something like this always happens… I knew it."

The scanning ship took off for another part of the city, and they all bolted for the gate.

As they got to the gate Rodney skidded to a halt and began to punch in the Atlantis address into the DHD. The gate flared to life with a watery rush, and they moved for it just as two beings beamed onto the planet's surface. They were stunning, and looked like utter perfection. Robed in white, trimmed in silver and gold, it made them stop for a moment to stare.

And then one of the beings raised a hand and shot fire at them, just barely licking Rodney's arm with the flames.

"AAAH! HOLY CRAP!" Rodney exclaimed as they moved into the event horizon.

As they arrived back on Atlantis, Kait began to shout. "CLOSE THE GATE! NOW!"

The gate shut down , and they could hear Elizabeth shouting for a med team to come down to the gate room. Kait quickly dropped her pack and moved to Rodney to inspect his burned arm.

"What the hell happened? Was it the Wraith?!" Elizabeth asked them, as Kait shook her head, Rodney's teeth gritting as she tentatively inspected his wounds.

"No, it wasn't… these people… they were gorgeous, definitely not Wraith." Kait said, as Teyla nodded.

"They had strange abilities as well… that is how Rodney was burned. They shot fire at him."

Elizabeth blinked in surprise. "They… shot fire? From a weapon you mean?"

"No, Dr. Weir… from their hands." Teyla said, making Elizabeth stare for a moment.

Carson and the new doctor came in, a US Doctor named Jennifer Keller, and began to check out Rodney's arm.

"Rodney, how do you always manage to get hurt?" Carson asked, making Rodney scowl.

"Well it's not like I do it on purpose like some kind of Sado-Masochist, Carson…" he said, grimacing in pain as they cut his sleeve away from the wound.

"Well, Dr. McKay, you do have a huge file in the medical records." Keller said, smirking at them. "Something about a trip to a foreign planet…"

"Which time, we've been to a lot of those." He said crossly, as Keller moved into her bag to grab ointment.

"A bio-weapons lab a year or so ago stood out to me." She said with a chuckle, making Rodney and Kait both straighten and stiffen. The trip to Sokra was still a rough topic for them, it had resulted in a lot of good, but left them with a lot of foul memories that they didn't like to relive.

Rodney stood and looked at Carson. "I'll be in the medical ward." He said shortly, moving for the door and cradling his arm. Once he had left, Carson right behind him, Keller spoke. "What's his issue? It was a virus, right?"

Kait quietly looked at her. "No, it wasn't just a virus… it almost cost us our lives." She said, as she picked up her pack and moved to follow Rodney and Carson, leaving a slightly bewildered Keller behind.

As Kait reached the medical ward, she walked in to find Carson quietly talking to Rodney, as he finished removing the cloth from Rodney's arm. Kait gasped as she saw the damage.

"I thought it was just a mild burn!" she said, noting the blistering and the charring skin on his outer layer of skin.

"Aye, initially it was, but it's acting as if it's napalm… it's still burning. I'm working on stopping the burning but so far nothing has worked. He's not in pain for whatever reason, but he's going to irreparably damage his flesh. Ancient medicine can only do so much for him right now. I can slow the process, almost to a halt, but I can't get it so that he'll begin to heal. I'm going to bandage his arm, if he begins to be in pain he will need to come back, but other than that… I mean I see no need to keep him here until I can begin to permanently heal him…" Carson said as he moved to grab some salve, bandages and gauze. "I'll need to change this once a day, and he can't get it wet until it's time to remove them because it could get very infected." He warned, beginning to cover the patch of burned skin with the ancient medicine to slow the burning to a halt, then covered it with gauze, and finally wrapped it.

After Carson finished, Rodney stood and stretched a bit, giving Kait a look once he noticed the worry on her face.

"I'm fine." He said, as she sighed.

"You're not, but I can't convince you of that… are you ok after what Princess Insensitive said?" Kait asked, as he nodded.

"Kait, I'm fine. I promise. I'm not worried about her, She didn't know. When did she arrive anyhow, the last week or so? I mean we've only been back… a day. She had no idea and probably thought she was being funny or something." He said as Kait sighed and crossed her arms.

"The burn from the fire isn't actually hurting you?"

"No, I don't know why but it's fine… aside from it getting worse. We need to get that data deciphered from that city though, there may be an answer in there."

She nodded as they both headed for the science labs, looking over the data on Kait's tablet, since his was in his pack at that point. As they walked, they heard the announcement that there was an incoming wormhole.

"That'll either be Daniel or the other guy… Rush, I think you said his name was." She said as Rodney nodded.

"Probably Jackson, Rush has been working from his home lately so O'Neill and Sam will have had to go get him from there." He said, as Kait nodded.

"Well, he knows where to find us."

And with that, the two walked even quicker to get to the science labs.


	3. Loud Mouthed Nonsense

"You really called me here to translate Greek?"

Daniel looked at the two physicists with a look that can only be described as annoyed. "Seriously, you found an ancient civilization, and instead of having me translate their text you have me translating Greek? Is this your idea of a joke?"

"No, you're not understanding, Daniel. That IS the text from the ancient civilization." Kait said, as Daniel shook his head.

"Greek is a language we've never seen off-world. We've seen English, mainly because we think the Ancients used it as a universal language of sorts, but Greek? No, we've never seen it."

"Well you're seeing it now, Jackson." Rodney snapped, flinging a tablet across the table at the linguist. Daniel caught it before it hit the table, and Kait stared at Rodney for a moment before turning to Daniel.

"See, look at the walls."

Daniel sighed, then looked at the walls, and tilted his head in confusion. "I…it is Greek. But how is there Greek on a random planet?"

"We think these… people… spoke it. They may have brought the language to Earth." She said, watching Rodney's annoyed expression with a hint of worry.

"Ok… and all the text taken from their databases… also Greek?"

"Yes."

Daniel nodded, as he loaded up a few files. "Well, first off… let's see about that burn on your arm… ok, so… do a word search for 'fire'… oh that's a lot."

Kait thought for a moment. "Can you search for Everlasting Fire or something like that?"

He blinked, then searched ignis graecus into the database, as a hit came up. He opened the file, and began to read, before swearing lightly. "Greek fire… It's basically Greek Fire. These people have elemental gifts, from what I'm reading… and they seem to be who our Greek Gods were based on. Anyhow, two twins, called Phobos and Deimos, are their guardians of the lost city… when the 'gems' are activated they are summoned to the city to protect it from intruders… what gems?" Daniel asked, as Kait began to explain the gems and their reactions to them.

"So, as fascinated as I am to know who did it, how do we stop it?" Rodney asked, as Daniel looked back over to him.

"Well if it's anything like actual Greek Fire, then sand, vinegar, anything that would deprive it of oxygen, but that looks like it didn't work."

"Obviously…"

"So… I'm guessing one of these Olympians could stop it."

"Well that's just great… Something we can't stop or do anything about, and the Olympians are probably not going to help us since we were kind of trespassing. Wonder if I can get Carson to just lop my arm off at the elbow and be done with it…" Rodney growled, frustrated.

Daniel looked back to the tablet, trying to translate a bit more. "It says here something about waters of…gem waters? Something about a gem."

Kait threw her head in her hands and groaned. "So, we need to figure out the very things we have no idea about and can't touch in order to help him. That's just lovely." She said, as the doors opened.

"Well it's a regular Mensa meeting in here, isn't it?"

Rodney looked up, before waving with one hand and setting his forehead on the table in exasperation. "Hello Rush, welcome to Atlantis. You're just in time for me to go get my arm cut off."

Rush shook his head and grabbed the tablet from Daniel. "Don't be such a pessimist Rodney."

He began to go over the files, then blinked. "This is all Greek."

"We're aware of that." Rodney said, not bothering to lift his head up.

"Has no one run all the files through translation software yet?" Rush asked, as Daniel shifted a bit.

"Well, we were going to do that soon. I wanted to make sure that it was actual Greek before we did that… I mean we've never encountered an alien species that uses Greek like this…" Daniel said as Rush simply shook his head.

Rush shook his head and pulled up a translation software tool that came equipped on all SGC devices, and within minutes all of the files were translated.

Kait shot the newcomer a look. "I wanted Daniel to look at them personally. Sometimes translation software is flawed…"

"And he can still do that. In the meantime, we have more info about McKay's wounds. That IS what matters, correct?" Rush asked, as Kait shot him a look that clearly said 'No shit Sherlock…'

As Rush pulled up the files on the gems, he tilted his head and sat down. "This makes no sense… 'The greek fires of the protectors can be healed and cured by the powers in a select few gems… In the Aqua Gem, where the powers of Poseidon lie, the oceanic waters can wash away the burning, but not heal the flesh. The healing love light of Aphrodite can heal the burn and remove the flames, and the flames of Aries can control the flames but not fully stop it, and can temporarily heal the flesh." He read as Rodney simply banged his head on the table in exasperation.

"I'm going to lose my arm." He said.

"There's more. Apparently… and I'm paraphrasing here, the flames will spread unless quelled by the protectors themselves. I'm guessing they're the ones who turned your into a barbecued chicken, McKay?"

Kait blinked, then stood up quickly. "We know where some gems are… I don't know if they're the ones that will stop this but we have to try." She grabbed her tablet and began to read through the files on the gems. "It's a potluck shot if that box has one that will help, but we have to."

Rodney sat up at that and shook his head. "No way. Those…protectors… are still there. You'll be flambayed faster than I was, they're expecting you now."

"Not necessarily."

Everyone turned their heads to see Sheppard leaning against the door frame, having been listening for a minute now. "Look, I have an idea. We send in an empty jumper on auto-pilot. Have it head in the opposite direction, at top speed. Hopefully they chase that instead of chasing us. Once we do that, all of you , me, Ronon, and Teyla, we head straight for the center of that place in the other puddle jumper. We'll get there in no time. We run in, grab the box, and leave. Bring it home and sort it all out from there." John said, as Rodney had the sense to look a bit impressed. Not much, mind you, but a small bit.

"Ok, so… chop chop people." Sheppard said, clapping his hands together quickly as Daniel and Rush grabbed their things and followed. Kait moved next to Rodney and touched his shoulder.

"Hey, are you sure you're ok to go?" she asked, as he to her surprise rolled his eyes and gave her a cross, heavily annoyed sigh. It was one he usually shared for those scientists who made rookie mistakes, and was incredibly rarely used with her, and generally, it was used only when they were fighting.

"Kaitlyn, Jesus stop crowding me and go help Jackson. Seriously, my arm is burning from the inside out, I'm exhausted already, and I'm seriously regretting a few rash judgements I made right now, so if you don't mind!" he snapped, making Sheppard stop on his way out the door.

Kait narrowed her eyes. "Look, I know you're hurt, I was just worried about you."

"Yeah well, don't. I don't need you to worry about me, you're not my mother, you're just barely my damn wife. Hell if I hadn't stopped to look at those creatures because you did, I wouldn't be looking at losing a limb right now. So you're not high on my list of people I want to look at right now! Now, get out of my way while I try and fix YOUR fuck up!" he glared as he pushed past her, pushing past Sheppard as he headed out the door.

Kait's eyes, narrowed still, bristled with tears of anger and sorrow. Sheppard moved to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You alright, Kait?"

"Yeah… I went into this knowing he could be a jerk… although it's looking like it'll be Kait Nichols and not McKay really, really fucking soon, at this rate." She said, before moving to follow the others as they gathered their gear.

'I didn't even do anything… we all stopped… Teyla as well as Rodney and I. I don't even understand why he's so damn angry at me when I'm doing all in my power to help him…' she thought bitterly, as she absentmindedly spun the ring on her finger around in a circle, moving to get her discarded pack and meet the rest of them in the gate room.

As the rest of them arrived in the gate room, Sheppard followed. Rodney hoisted his pack up to his shoulders, biting back the raw rage that for some reason had begun to flow through his body during the talk in the science labs.

Kait, on the other hand, was simply geared up and ignoring Rodney for the moment. He wanted to be an ass to her? Fine. So be it. But she wasn't letting him kill himself. So as they got into the puddle jumper, she stayed closer to the new scientist, Rush, and Jackson, while Rodney kept more to himself, quietly swearing at a tablet.

"So, you're either absolutely, fully certifiable, or you're a patron saint, to be able to tolerate McKay. Might I ask what your name is?" Rush smirked at her, as Jackson gave a small smile and answered for her, thankfully. She was in no mood to speak at the moment and Daniel could sense that, having worked with her before.

"Her name is Kaitlyn Nichols… well, Kaitlyn McKay now. She's a physicist; she works on Atlantis with Rodney and Zelenka."

"Well, McKay for now, we'll see how long that lasts." She muttered, making Rodney's eyes flit up in annoyance, and back down to the tablet, his skin around his ears red.

"Don't say that. This is stressful, I'm sure you will work things out in time." Teyla said as she leaned forward, making Rodney glare in anger.

"While I'm sure discussing our marital problems is entertaining, can we get a move on please?" he snapped, shooting them an ominous look. Teyla nodded, while Kait shot him an equally venomous look. Shit was getting old, fast.

Rush looked between the two of them and made a noise of interest, before moving back to his own tablet, as did Jackson, not before the latter threw Kait a slightly sympathetic look.

Sheppard moved to the pilot's seat and began to speak. "Alright, keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times. Trojan Horse Jumper 1 is a go." He said, as the jumper in front of them took off on a pre-programmed, unmanned course. They gave it a few minutes before Sheppard began to make the jumper rise. "And we're off, ladies and gentlemen. Remember, we get what we need, and come home. It's in and out. Elizabeth," he radioed to their leader, "We'll check in as soon as we can. Give us an hour, then get ready to send back up, just in case." He said, as the jumper lurched forward then zoomed into the event horizon of the gate.

Elizabeth watched them leave from the observation deck, a small frown on her face. How she wished she could help them, they were her family at this point… but if something happened to her, they would be in big trouble, because someone had to run this expedition.

She just hoped that they arrived and took care of what they needed to, and got back in time before the Olympians decided to make an example out of them for trespassing. And the last thing she needed was anymore of her people hit with this greek fire and burning without a cure. Especially since, if it happened outside of the gate area, they would be pretty screwed.

The Stargate shut down behind them, and she sighed. Now it was time to wait.


	4. Drowning in a Pool of Tears

***Author's Note: I'm sorry this took so long to get up, I've been swamped with school! I'm hoping to get some chapters written during the winter break for this story and my OUAT/Stargate crossover as well. As always, please follow and review if you enjoy.***

As the jumper went through the gate, Sheppard quickly cloaked it, watching as a ship flew after the decoy. "Alright, we have limited time, guys." He said, as he punched it, zooming through the city with a concentrated look, focusing on flying the jumper with the utmost concentration. He zoomed under bridges and buildings, avoiding the ruins with the skill granted to him by years of flight training.

They got as close as they could before landing and exiting the jumper. "Ok, McKay, Teyla, Ronon, and Jackson, you guys head for the control room, buy us time and make sure that our way is clear. Nichols, Rush, and I will head for the gem room. We don't have long to do what we need to do, so move as fast as you can, but be safe too. No heroics if we can help it, like I said on Atlantis. Now, let's move." Sheppard said, as they split into their respective groups. Sheppard and his group quickly took off, heading right, for the gems.

Since entering the city, Rodney's head had begun to clear, and he was already regretting his words. He wasn't even sure where they had come from, but before he could say anything, they had left. He sighed, then focused, moving to the left with the others, heading for the control room. It wasn't far from where they were now, and they were able to reach the room pretty quickly, as he took his tablet and hacked into the system to get the door open using the data they had gotten from their last trip here. Once inside, he and Jackson were able to pull up monitors and door locking systems.

"Alright, all doors unlocked in 3…2…1…" he said, as the indicators on the screen showed the whole place opening up like Christmas morning for them. He smirked. He may be injured, but he was still badass.

"Well done, Rodney. How are you doing?" Teyla asked, checking his arm, and looking at him.

"Better. I felt better as soon as I arrived here, for whatever reason. I'll figure that out soon enough too." He said, as the lights on the display lit, showing where movement was in the city. So far, it was just showing Sheppard's team.

Speaking of Sheppard and his team…

They were having an easier time now that the doors were opened for them, however, as they neared the gem room, they happened to hear a loud boom from across the distance. Sheppard quickly checked his equipment, and swore.

"Damn it, they took out the decoy! Let's move, we don't have time now!" he said, as he radioed to Teyla. "Teyla, do you read me? Keep everything open to us and head back to the jumper. You guys need to be ready to leave soon, the decoy was just blown up." Sheppard said, as Teyla returned the call.

"Understood, John. Rodney and Daniel are working on that right now, then we will head straight for the jumper." She said as he gave an affirmative response and shut his radio off, keeping up with Rush and Kait.

"This place is amazing…" Rush said, looking around at all of the dormant technology. "If I had an hour or two here to just work uninterrupted…" he said, almost in lament, as Kait nodded. "If you think this is interesting, you should wait until you see the gems." She said.

And she was right.

As they entered the gem room, the floor shook lightly, and Sheppard moved to the window, watching as soldiers were beamed at the entrance points. They'd be up here in minutes, and they'd be stuck.

"Shit, we're about to have company." He said, grabbing his radio. "Teyla?"

She answered. "I'm here, we saw soldiers beam in… we have locked the doors in here, but as soon as the two that he is calling the protectors were on the ground, he grabbed his arm and began to scream. He's in serious pain, John, and nothing is calming it." She said, and Sheppard could hear the panic in her voice.

"Tell him to try and hang on, we'll be there as soon as we can…" he said, as Kait unlocked the box from the pedestal, and grabbed it tightly. She had heard the whole conversation, and her head had turned to stare, her face ashen.

"He'll be ok, Kait." Sheppard said, to get her to focus, as she nodded wordlessly.

She gripped the box and held it tight, as they heard movement in the staircase. Sheppard quickly moved and blocked the door, then broke the crystalline window he had just looked out of. "We're out of options, we have to move a floor down." He said, securing a rope to one of the pillars and handing it to Rush. "Rappel down, and use your feet to smash the window. I'll send Nichols down a minute later, then I'll be down. Go!"

Rush quickly grabbed the rope, secured it as best as he could, and moved down the side of the broken window and wall to the window below. He began to kick the crystalline glass, as hairline fractures began to form in the window. As he made it through, so did the soldiers who had been beamed down, and John cut the rope to prevent them from heading down. Kait ran to the window with the box, and tripped, dropping it to the floor.

The box had popped open, and one gem had skittered across the room. She closed it, and called down to Rush, dropping the gems down to him as he leaned out the window. He caught the box with a grunt, then she was back in the window and being pulled back. She broke free quickly and was able to grab the other gem, which had begun to ebb in a blue-green light, and she shoved it into her pocket before being struck and then dragged with Sheppard.

She closed her eyes and prayed Rush would make it to the others…

Jackson's face paled as he watched what was going on in the gem room. Rodney was panting, holding his arm like it was burning off, and Ronon and Teyla were at the door in case someone decided to head their way. He looked up at another monitor, and watched Rush moving towards them, using his tablet to access a map of the place.

Kneeling by Rodney, Daniel sighed. Rodney spoke up a minute later.

"How's… Kait… Sheppard…Rush?"

Daniel looked away, and Rodney blinked. "What happened?"

"They've been captured. Sheppard and Kait are being taken by the soldiers to the protectors. Rush is on his way here, he was able to get away… and Kait threw the gems to him. He's coming here with the gems."

If Rodney's face went any paler, Daniel would think he was trying to get on Night of the Living Dead. Rodney grit his teeth and moved to the panels and screens, watching the soldiers march their captured comrades closer and closer towards the protectors in the center of the city, weapons aimed at their backs.

On another monitor, he could see Rush moving quickly towards them, his eyes darting around to make sure that no one was coming to stop him or injure him. He was actually rather close, having found a short cut to the control room via the map system he was using. Daniel moved to the door, and opened it just as Rush made it to them.

Daniel quickly pulled him in, and re-sealed the door, Teyla and Ronon moving back to their guarding position. Rush panted, but handed the case with the gems to Daniel, who moved over to the side and popped it open. Rodney looked over, then choked out a pained question.

"Where's the last one… there were 4 in here before… now there's 3…"

Daniel did another quick count, then looked to the screens along with Rodney, trying to spot the last gem.

Kait kept her eyes on the ground as they walked nearer to the protectors. The gem made her want to touch it, like Bilbo Baggins and his One Ring. So far though, she hadn't had much of a chance to do so. The guards were marching her and Sheppard straight for the center square, where the protectors were waiting for them. At least that was what she had gathered from the small bits she had overheard. And from what she had heard, these protectors were not going to take any bullshit.

The rounded a corner to see the center square, the decrepit fountain spewing water as if someone had been living here all the time. The protectors, the beautiful people they had seen as Rodney had been burned, looked at them disdainfully.

"Humans." The woman said, her lip curling in annoyance. "We left your planet years ago to get away from your kind and their meddling… And apparently, you have found a way to follow us out into the Pegasus galaxy." She moved to Sheppard, and curled her dagger-like nails into his arm.

"Where are the gems?"

"Gems? What gems?" he said, as she tightened her grip, the nails slicing into his skin and digging into the muscle. He let out a yelp, and she continued to glare.

"Do not play games, human. We know how your kind is. You are bad liars and even worse actors. Where are they?" she asked, tightening her grip again as Sheppard began to howl, making Kait pull against those restraining her.

"No, let him go!" she said, wincing as she was pushed to her knees. The male sneered, and raised a hand to the woman to stop. He raised his other hand at the fountain, and a blast of fire blew the fountain away, leaving what looked like a bottomless pool of water. He moved beside her, standing between her and the now destroyed fountain.

"This is known as the Ateleío̱tes ýdata, or the Endless Waters in your tongue. They go through down to the core of this planet, and will pull you under as far as you can think and imagine. They will engulf you and steal your air, make you beg for Hades to free you from your torment… and they will be your fate if you do not tell me where the gems are…"

Kait stubbornly blinked, and kept her mouth shut, making him smirk… then he raised his hand and used a blast of fire to shoot her into the waters.

As Kait went under with a splash, Sheppard gave a yell and began fighting furiously to free himself and go after her. What he didn't know was that her husband was doing the same thing in the control room and was being restrained by Jackson and Rush.

Under the surface, she managed to get her hand up once or twice before the water seemed to pull her down against her will and despite her fighting. She was a great swimmer, a diver in fact, but these waters had a mind of their own. She watched the surface grow further and further away, and she felt the last of her air leave.

Barely functioning, she watched as the gem in her pocket floated out and glowed brightly. She only gave it one second glance before wrapping her hand around it, and feeling power engulf her. Her lungs instinctively tried to draw air, and as water filled her lungs she felt empowered. The water surrounded her like a hug, like an old friend, and she willed herself to rise up and out of the dark water.

Sheppard stopped struggling when, minutes after Nichols has been tossed in, the water began to bubble and froth over the opening, and Kait rose from the top, standing on the water, her body glowing a faint teal. Her hand was clenching something, what he could only assume was a gem. The protectors, he noticed, were now frowning.

"You are Ancients?" the woman asked, glaring at John.

"No." Kait's voice rang out and reverberated through the ruins. "We are not Ancients… we are their Descendants. We are the Tau'ri." She raised her hand, as the woman was about to speak, and the water from the Ateleío̱tes ýdata shot at them and engulfed them, pinning them to the walls. The guards rushed them, and she raised her other hand to use the waters to sweep them down and into the Ateleío̱tes ýdata. Her eyes were a bright teal color, and as the protectors passed out, Sheppard grabbed her arm.

"KAIT! We need to go!"

She looked at him, and nodded, releasing the protectors into a crumpled heap on the floor and moving with Sheppard swiftly, as they headed for the control room. As they arrived minutes later, though, the door was thrown open and they were on their way out.

"JOHN! We were on the way to the gate!" Teyla said, as Rodney looked over to Kait.

"K-kait?"

She didn't speak, but walked forward, and placed her hand on his arm. He winced, then gasped as the pain and burning flowed away as cool waters flowed all over his arm. The reddening tint to his eyes disappeared, and he shook his head in astonishment. As he went to speak, she shook her head.

"I'm tired right now… I need to rest…" she said, her eyes returning to brown, and back to teal. Rush spoke from the rear.

"The gem, you have it don't you?"

She nodded, and began to hand it to Daniel before he stopped her.

"Not yet, we may need you to use the gifts that the gem is granting you again, as much as I hate to say it…"

She nodded at that, and they made their way to the puddle jumper. As soon as they arrived, they went to get in and had to dodge a blast of fire at their heads. Kait instinctively threw her hand up, and a shield of water flew up and surrounded them. They quickly got in, and as they began to move, Kait, her body exhausted in the jumper, finally gave out and passed out in her seat, the shield falling as they entered the event horizon, the gate closing behind them.


	5. Fire and Ice

"You have a habit of waking up here, lass."

Kait's eyes blearily opened, a cross look flitting across her features. Her head was pounding… and she had cotton mouth like no one's business. "Well, I keep you in business, so you should be more appreciative." She scowled, as she sat up and rubbed her temple. "I feel like I got hit with a house. The whole house. In a cyclone… as it fell into Oz."

Carson chuckled, and checked her vitals. "Aye, love, something close to that from what I understand."

She gave him a look as she rubbed her temple, her head throbbing.

"It's a side effect of the gemstone, from what I can tell. You're going to have one hell of a hangover today, although from all of the texts in the lab, I can't understand why it effected you so poorly. Rodney, Rush, and Daniel are all in the labs studying it's effects and the source of it's power."

She threw the blankets off and began looking for her clothes, as Carson gave her a glare. "Not this time. You're staying here for the night even if I have to sedate you. You had mild hypothermia from the cold water, some bruised ribs from what Sheppard said was a nasty fall into a well or lake or something of the sort, and a mild concussion from being thrown about like a rag doll. "

"But-"

"No buts, lass. You're not going anywhere."

With an annoyed grunt, she resigned herself to her fate... overnight in the hospital ward.

* * *

In the labs, the gem was proving to be more of a problem than they had initially thought it would be.

"It's emitting something... it's a faint energy signal that seems to be like a homing beacon... but we have no idea how to turn it off." Rush said with a frown, as Rodney shook his head.

"But the thing is, how do we know what it's doing? We don't, and if we could harness this thing we could power Atlantis AND off-world sites all over for years. This thing seems to have limitless power."

"It's unstable, using it as a power source could cause it to overload in some way and explode." Rush shot Rodney a look.

Daniel sighed. His head was pounding and his body was aching. "Look... we're not going to agree on this. Why don't we wait, think on this a bit, and come back in a few hours? I mean I can't see anything drastic happening in just a few hours."

Rodney sighed, but nodded. "Fine, fine. You guys go, get some rest. I'll keep working."

Rush nodded, getting up and leaving, but Daniel shot Rodney a look before getting up. "You know, an apology generally works well when you've been an ass." he said simply, and before Rodney could say a word, he was gone.

He sat, and put his head in his hands. To be honest, he had no idea what to say to Kait. I'm sorry wouldn't even be remotely enough for some of the things he had said... even though it wasn't fully him, it was still inexcusable.

Getting up, and putting the gem out of his mind for a moment, he decided to bite the bullet, and headed for the infirmary.

When he finally got there, Kait was asleep. He stood over her for a moment, as Carson looked over from his monitor.

"Rodney, what have you guys figured out?"

He let out a deep breath. "Not a damn thing. We know it can grant power, but we can't figure out why it's emitting energy. It ebbs, like an SOS, but I can't see it being strong enough to reach that damn planet... and there's nothing in the texts about why it drained Kait's energy like it did."

"Maybe it's because I'm not full blooded Ancient?" Kait muttered, as Rodney turned and looked down at her with a surprised look.

"We thought of that, but from what we can see, that shouldn't matter."

Silence after that... neither one was really looking the other in the eyes... and finally, Carson spoke.

"I'm going to step out for a moment..."

As soon as Carson left, Rodney moved next to Kait, and glanced at her. She was pointedly looking away from him, a frown on her face.

"How's your hand?"

"Oh, it's better. My whole arm is better... healing quickly, you know." he said, as she nodded. He sucked in a deep breath. "Look, Kait... I'm sorry, ok? It wasn't me... it was just-"

"Deep down... it was you. Whatever effect that power or fire had over you, it did not put words into your mouth that were not there. It just opened the floodgates for you." she said pointedly, still focusing on the wall. "I need a bit of time to think about that. Because some of the things said were wrong... and if I had said them, you'd feel the same."

He puffed up indignantly at that. "What about you saying you weren't sure how long before you changed your name back, hm? You don't think that was hurtful?"

Her head finally turned, and her narrowed eyes met his. "If it bothered you that much, you would have said something when I said it."

He stumbled over his next words for a moment.

"Well, I-I didn't think you meant it..."

"At the time... I didn't, really. Now?" she trailed off, before giving him a look.

"I need time."

Ok, he wasn't one to admit it, but those words stung. He nodded, before turning around to leave...and stopping at the door.

"You know..-"

At that moment, the alarm in the gateroom went off, and they both looked up. Frowning, he began to speak, radioing in to determine the status of the situation.

"McKay to Weir... what's going on?"

"Rodney, you need to - the labs are in- shut down all access to the labs! The Olym- they're here, in the city!"

Paling as his radio went to static, he looked at Kait, and pointed his finger at her.

"You, stay here. I'll be back, the medical ward has better protection than the labs." he said, before taking off without another word.

Frowning as the doors slammed shut to the medical ward, she swore and began to get out of bed as Carson came back in.

"Not a chance, lass."

"They want those gems, we need to just hand them over, they'll leave."

Carson shook his head. "I doubt it, they're angry more than likely that the gems left that planet. They'll want retribution."

Retribution.

She shot Carson a look, then yanked the IV out of her arm, as Carson began cussing and bandaging her arm.

"I'll restrain you!"

"You can try." She growled. She'd be damned if these people attacked her home without her putting up a fight. As he got her arm fixed up, she stood straight, then bit back a wave on nausea...

"Carson, I need something for nausea... please? I'm no use here or elsewhere puking... it must be another side effect."

He nodded, shaking his head as he rummaged through the cabinets and grabbing zofran. Pulling it into a syringe, he pushed the needle into her arm and let the medicine flow into her body. She winced, but bit her lip.

"That should kick in momentarily love. Don't overexert yourself too much... I'm waiting on all of your bloodwork to come back."

She nodded, as she finished pulling her clothes on, and went out the only door that was still open. She grabbed her weapons off of the shelf where they had been placed, and was gone. Radios were down all over the city, like some kind of interference was going on.

Moments after she left the med labs, the last of her bloodwork beeped at Carson. As he looked it over, he blinked, then went to radio her to come back, now... swearing in annoyance as he was greeted with static.

"Damn it."

* * *

Rodney ran into the primary labs and sealed the doors behind him, frowning at the noise of stunner fire and other unfamiliar blasters were heard behind him.

"Motherf-"

He was cut short as the door to the lab began to glow slightly, like a torch was being used on it. Communications were cut off, and the only gem in this area right now was the stupid red one... they didn't even know what that would do, if it would do anything... it didn't even look active.

He glanced at the gem, which was suddenly emitting a reddish glow, then back to the door...

"Oh what the hell... it's better than dying..."

Rodney grabbed the gem, and felt a surge of heat, strength, and power rush through him. His eyes glowed red, and he felt heat in the palms of his hands... glancing down, he twitched his fingers, and watched as flames danced into his palms.

"Human Torch, eat my shorts." he said under his breath, as the door finally opened and the Olympians who had made it that far raised their hands and shot flames at him.

He put his hands up defensively, and felt the flames wash over him like a warm bath. He glanced up, and saw the heat flow around him, singing his clothing and burning it, but not burning him.

"Oh, that is cool."

He instinctively threw a hand out, and watched in awe as a shot of pure fire and what could only be described as molten magma hit the Olympians, watching as they hit the floor in pain.

"Greek fire." He said, understanding moving across his features. So, that's what these gems did... each one held the powers of an Olympian... different colors meant different gifts.

And this one... well... as more Olympians came into the room, he cracked his neck, and smirked a bit. This would be fun.

* * *

Kait's feet pattered on the floor, the gown she was wearing keeping her just covered enough. The gem she had used, it was in the secondary labs, she knew that... she wasn't sure, but it was almost like she could feel the gem calling to her. These people had powers that they simply didn't have... and they needed someone to even out the playing field. She had no issues being the person to do that.

As she came around the corner, she darted into the labs and locked it behind her, and turned. Spotting the gem in a case that was running tests on it, she quickly hit the emergency release buttons, dropping the sides of the case.

Man, she did and didn't want to do this again... She remembered how drained it made her feel, how unsteady and nauseated she was after, but... well, they couldn't hold their own against these invaders without it...

Slamming her eyes shut, she wrapped her hands back around the gem, and felt the initial chill of water and the power increase. She took a steadying breath, and balled her free hand into a fist, water from outside rushing in and encircling her waist and up her hands.

Well, the quicker the intruders were cleared, the quicker she could put this thing down... so, with the smallest of smirks, she opened the door and began heading for the halls, blasting any of the intruders she came across into unconsciousness.

The other three gems would be incredibly useful right now... but she wasn't sure if anyone else had guessed just what they could do. Or where they were, for that matter...

Ugh.

She stopped as she heard loud explosion sounds coming from the Gate room... ducking into a supply closet, she grabbed some clothes, and then she took off at full speed, her eyes a teal blue color, water dripping off her hands as she ran.

The only chance they had was to stop them from getting in reinforcements... and to do that, they would have likely opened the gate themselves, to stop the Olympians from dialing back in. That gave them a chance to send them back from where they came from.

* * *

As the Olympians bore down on the control room, Sheppard knelt, pulling Weir down. "They're going to shoot you, are you insane?"

"We have to think of a way to send them back!"

"And how do you plan on doing that, Elizabeth? We don't exactly have the time or the power to do that, they've got powers that our weapons can't touch!" Sheppard said, wincing as a set of fire flew past them.

"So what do you suggest? Surrender?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes widening.

Before he could say anything, the upper deck door opened, and McKay stepped in. As the fire shot out from the soldiers at him, Sheppard shouted.

"RODNEY, DUCK!"

Elizabeth's eyes widened as the flames washed over him, and she pulled herself up, straining to see him. As the flames stopped, she stared, as he straightened without a single singe or burn. He raised his hand, and shot flames at them in return, his eyes glowing cherry red, like two red hot nickle balls. He glanced down, then headed down the stairs.

"Rodney..."

"I figured we'd have literally no chance with their powers... and I saw what that other gem did on their homeworld... so...even out the playing field."

Elizabeth was about to protest, as he had no idea if it would work or not, when the doors on the ground level opened and Kait walked in, guns blazing. She raised her unused hand, and in a rush of water, the ocean came in through the windows. Again, it encircled her, and she chuckled, before blasting two of the Olympians, sending them straight through the gate.

Rodney came down to her, and she nodded at him. the faintest hint of a smile playing at her lips. He let out a breath, as the remaining soldiers from Olympus, the ones they had left unconscious, began to rush into the gate room.

"Give us the gems!" one said, holding his hand out.

Rodney gave him a look. "How about no."

With that, the people in the gate room looked in astonishment as the two science officers McKay went back to back, using their gems' respective gifts to send the soldiers through one by one. Kait threw up a shield around the control area, protecting the others.

"Elizabeth, how extensively damaged is the city?" Rodney shouted up to her, as Elizabeth shook her head and checked.

"Not bad, the other two gems aren't here, so it seems they followed those two... and we sent them far enough away where they won't be able to trace them..." she called down, making Rodney nod. That meant they had sent Rush and Daniel to Earth to figure out more about these gems.

Suddenly, Kait laughed a bit from behind him.

"What could possibly be funny right now?" he asked her, incredulous.

"I feel like Sonic the Hedgehog with the Chaos Emeralds." she said simply, a broad grin on her face. At that, even he snorted.

She ducked as a fire blast almost hit her, and Rodney turned and sent return fire at them swiftly. She stood, and surveyed the remaining soldier count...

"Let's pool our power... I'll bet if we worked together we could make a wall that would push them all out, like a funnel... I'll use the ocean to make the funnel-wall, to get them in the gate.…"

"I can push them through with the flames." he said, turning and facing the same direction as her. She backed up against him and pushed herself against him, before closing her eyes and focusing, as the ocean again came in and large water walls shot up, blocking in all access anywhere except to the gate. As she finished, Rodney raised his hand and created a large fire wall, and pushed them towards the gate. The soldiers, getting burned, began to flee the only way they could... through the gate.

"This is not the end of this, Lanteans... we will come back." the head soldier growled, as Rodney narrowed his eyes. With that, he jumped into the Stargate, as they shut it down behind them.

Smirking, Rodney tossed the red gem into the air, and caught it, the red leaving his eyes as soon as he dropped the gem. He tilted his head... no residual effects for him, odd...

At that, Beckett's voice came through the radio.

"GOOD, I can get through! Do NOT let Kaitlyn let go of that gem until a medical team is there!" he said, before the line went dead.

Kait looked to Rodney, and sighed. "I guess... Look, I understand, ok..." she said, before he could speak. He shook his head.

"Kait, I've told you... I didn't mean it. It wasn't me... well it was, but believe me... the last thing I want is to end this. And I think I know why... this gem... it's the same fire and greek fire that I was hit with... that's the power in here. And when I grabbed this, I learned... war, basically. I think that the flames cause irrational anger, like an infection." he said, as she laughed a bit. "What?"

"You just can't NOT get infected with something when on a mission, can you?"

He pushed her shoulder lightly, then pulled her to him in a tight hug. As he did, he felt the tightness of her waistline in those pants. He looked at her, confused. "Hey, you grabbed pants too small I'm guessing..." he said, as she shook her head.

"No, I grabbed my size..." she said, as he glanced at her. Her freaking shirt was too small too... a shipment of clothes must have been labeled badly.

As Elizabeth and Sheppard finally came down, he kissed Kait's lips softly, as she sighed against him. After a moment, Beckett ran in, and they came apart.

"I feel better this time, Carson... can I just let go now?" she asked, as he nodded. As soon as she dropped the gem, she swooned, a wave of dizziness hitting her. Her knees buckled and she hit the deck, Rodney catching her.

"The hell?! Carson, what's going on? I didn't have any issues when I used the red one!"

"Maybe the control of the ocean is more taxing than the flames?" Elizabeth suggested, as Carson shook his head. He began checking her blood pressure, his face frowning.

"No...it's because her body is already overtaxed... the gem is fueling it and putting undue strain on it." he said, as Rodney gave him a look.

"Well what's overtaxing her?"

Carson sighed, sitting upright. "The gems were only meant to be used by someone who's body is only supporting themselves. Not someone supporting a second life..."

Rodney's face shifted, and went unreadable, before he looked down at her pale face. Her swollen chest, her widening hips, her nausea...

"Carson, do you mean to tell me..."

"Yes, Sheppard... Kait's pregnant. And the worst part, I think these gems and their power may have been making the bairn grow faster than it should even be possible..."


	6. Final Update

p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Readers, /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"br /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"br /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"I/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'m very sorry to have to let you know that, as of this point, there will be no more updates to this story. The story went in a direction that I do not like, and that even I feel is butchering the premise of Stargate. It's slipping more into a Marvel feeling, which is not what I wanted. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"I may make some one-shots in the future for this couple, and maybe involving future children. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"My apologies. I have been planning to post more of this story up, but just cannot get it to a place where I an ok with what I have written. If anyone wants to continue this fic, please feel free to send me a message, I have no issues handing over the reigns and giving up the basic premise I had originally for the story. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sincerely/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"-B/span/p 


End file.
